Major Dick Winters

In the series Band of Brothers, the central figure is an officer of Paratroops named Richard or Dick Winters.  He leads the Company of soldiers through training and the invasion of France to the victory over Germany and the occupation.  He is an admirable leader, modest, considerate, shares the privations of those he commands.  He did many heroic things.  One of them was to decide, after shooting a young SS soldier in Holland during an attack, that he would not take another life.  As an admiring senior officer remarks later, doing this as a combat leader was extraordinary.  Winters seems to have kept this resolution, all the while effectively leading his men through the Battle of the Bulge and other very rough times.  Winters trained men to fight during the Korean War and beyond, and would seem to have been a most effective teacher.  To me he is an example of the generation of War leaders that have mostly passed now.  He, and they, will be greatly missed.

Surprise!

So the new majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has already sidestepped several of the "promises" made during the election.  They are so intent upon wagging a "finger of honor" in the face of Mr. Obama that they are going to push their "repeal" of the health insurance overhaul through without discussion of the $240 Billion the non-partisan CBO says repeal will add to the deficit over the next decade.  Oh, and the minority rights they promised, and the pledge to allow full consideration of amendments, and all the other feel-good stuff they said would happen--uhhh, not for now.  Perhaps such niceties will be more convenient later.  Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.  If anyone actually expected things to magically get better, wake up.  Both sides promise incessantly, but focus mostly on raising money so they can win the next election.  I love it when a phony "patriot" like Jim Demint says that moderates don't believe in anything.  What we believe in is the good of the country, which is advanced when adults having differing viewpoints talk together and compromise.  When, instead, pols insist upon theatrical shows like reading the Constitution in open session, and refuse to talk to each other, it is not the good of the country they pursue, but rather, it is their own narrow self-interest.

The Followers of the Way of Peace Are At It Again

So in Pakistan a fanatic Moslem killed an official because that person advocated reform of repressive blasphemy laws.  These laws are not traditional at all--they were put in place in the 80s to allow dictator Zia al-Haq an easy way to prosecute opponents.  If one "insults" Mohammed or the Koran, apparently including not acknowledging that they are "holy", one is guilty.  This means that if one is not Moslem and demurs from referring to Mohammed as a prophet, or as "The Prophet", one is guilty and subject to death.  Now, not even Zia actually killed anyone under these laws, but currently a Christian lady is under sentence of death because she responded in kind when she was told by co-workers that just by touching a water can, she had "defiled" it.  A provincial governor spoke out against these evil laws and the threat to the lady's life.  A bodyguard supplied by another province which he was visiting killed him.  It is hard to think of Islam as "The Way of Peace" when one contemplates this kind of thing.  Let me affirm here that the religion looks bad in the face of by such actions, and these kind of occurrences prove to me that the Umma--the Islamic Caliphate that fanatics belief they have a holy mission to impose on the world--must never be restored.  Just in case anyone wonders.

I Heart Facebook (I think)

I changed the name of this Blog just because I wanted to make it clear that it's my thing, not to be taken over by others.  I've noticed that no status or opinion of mine posted on Facebook should be expected to go unchallenged.  Even saying that I like morning church and am happy that our Ward has changed to the 9 am schedule resulted in being told that I'm "crazy" and what a wonderful day someone had on the afternoon schedule.  How nice.  I invite anyone who loves the afternoon schedule and is happy to have it this year, to post such information as their status.  But why they feel the need to try to negate my opinion is beyond me.

It's like when I do a post about some matter of current events or politics, and it elicits a flurry of people saying that they disagree.  OK, that's nice.  Post your own opinions and have fun with them--on your page.  Don't hijack mine.

I suppose that is curmudgeonly of me.  Sorry!

What Mitt said, and What He Should Have Said

Recently, ex-Massachusetts Governor and my fellow Mormon Mitt Romney addressed the Conservative Political Action Committee. He told them:

"In a world where others have lost their liberty by trading it away for the false promises of the state, we choose to hold to our founding principles..."

That sounds good, if only he had followed it up with something like this:

"Therefore, we renounce oppressive measures such as the USA PATRIOT Act, which is tyranny masquerading as security. We reject the siren call of some who would trade-off the rule of law for fleeting tactical gains in the fight against terrorism. We recognize the rule of law as the bedrock principle of liberty; that adherence to justice--to every person being treated honorably and fairly, receiving his due whether or not we like him--is the most important constitutional value we defend."

But alas, all he was talking about was the usual neo-liberal baloney--the magic of the marketplace. If only Brother Mitt still sounded like he did as Governor of Massachusetts--a moderate, reasonable man of conviction. But no, to appease the Mike Huckabees of the Republican Party, Mitt sold out the moderation that made him attractive to people who might actually vote for him, which the Huckabees never will do.

Now, Mitt is the Chairman of Bain Capital Group, a private equity firm. Of course he loves no-net capitalism, it has made him immensely wealthy and powerful. It did the same for Alan Stanford and Bernie Madoff. He's never going to like economic regulation, any more than I like plutocracy. One doesn't expect him to abandon the Old Whig line that "those who would trade [economic] security for [laissez-faire] liberty, will end up with neither." (It comes from Edward Gibbon, not Franklin, by the way. Franklin was plagiarising.)

What would be nice is to hear a so-called conservative of the 21st Century recognize that the Constitution is worth more than lip service. All of it. "Promoting the general welfare" in addition to "providing for the common defense." And that as that greatest of American conservatives, Abraham Lincoln, put it, we are a country dedicated to the rule of laws, not men. Sorry, Mitt: I can't support a person who doesn't see this, LDS or not.

A modest proposal that no one will listen to.

Learned a supreme irony today--the health insurance reform plan the Democrats are trying to get through Congress is, with a few omissions, largely the very plan the Republican proposed in 1993! Some of the biggest nay-sayers, now opposing this plan, sponsored it in 1993! Back then the idea that all should be required to obtain insurance at a fair price was touted by them as a model of "personal responsibility." Now they say that it is a violation of "liberty" to require people to obtain insurance.

What it appears to be is an abandonment of principle on their part. They are convinced they will reap short term political gain by continuing the "Party of No" thing. It is hard not to see these actions as an integral part of the partisanship that poisons everything in Washington.

In my view the smart thing for Dems to do is to dust off that old Republican plan that looks so very similar to their own, swallow hard, accept medical malpractice award caps and the other few things that the two plans don't have in common, and substitute the old Republican plan. Bring it up for a vote and quote their own speeches back at them. To get universal health coverage, curtailing malpractice awards would be well worth it. Make the system no-fault like Michigan auto insurance--to drive, one is required to have insurance that covers his own injuries. Only allow legal action on medical malpractice when the injury is permanent and affects a major activity of life, ie mobility or the ability to work. Provide for public coverage of catastrophic loss over a certain level such as $250,000. We could live with such a system; we live with it here in Michigan for auto insurance (except for the public coverage of catastrophic loss part) now.

But alas, hoping the Democrats will get smart on this point is like hoping someone will repeal the law of gravity. The parties posture, proclaim, and pretend, and meanwhile this is the only industrialized country on the planet that does not provide universal health coverage in some form or other. A distinction the Republicans can be proud of, to be sure; it belongs to them!

The politics of greed and envy

America is plagued by the politics of greed (Republicans) and envy (Democrats). This is the spirit that doomed Rome and it will doom us if we don't get over it. Yet I see nothing on the horizon to indicate that the politicals are waking up to this fact. One side is obsessed with an ever-expanding wish list of "rights" for anyone and everyone, regardless of economic or social/civic cost. The other is obsessed with libertarian economics despite centuries of evidence that unregulated markets lead to abuses and real people being hurt for the profit of the few. I see no reason to expect this to change on either side unless we the people respond to extremism by no longer voting for it. I will say that I find it extraordinary that the Republicans who six years ago said they would be "bipartisan" when they had a veto-proof majority in Congress, now say "bipartisanship" means giving the minority party control of governing. I blame both parties for the mess in government, but I blame the Republicans all the more because they are supposed to be the responsible and realistic party.

I am convinced the Republic is in real trouble and that Washington is full of little Neros, each fiddling his or her little tune of "Reelect Me At All Costs," while Rome burns.